Friday, October 28, 2016

Friday Night Soother

by digby

Needed now more than ever:

On Friday, world leaders meeting at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources announced that part of the ocean around Antarctica — namely the Ross Sea — would become the largest-ever marine sanctuary. Known formally as a marine protected area (MPA), the area would be closed off to fishing and hunting, making life much, much better for the animals there.

The new MPA is about 600,000 square miles. That's roughly the size of France and Spain combined, or a little smaller than Alaska.

This is good news for the hundreds of thousands of animals who live in the chilly Antarctic waters, including orcas, whales and birds.

One animal who'll benefit is the emperor penguin. About 240,000 of these distinctive-looking birds currently live in the Ross Sea region, but the population has been under threat because of overfishing and ice loss, which is a result of climate change.

Then there's the minke whale — the smallest baleen whale in the world. While minkes don't spend all of their time in Antarctica, thousands migrate down during the summer months to feast on fish and krill. With the sanctuary's "no fishing" rule, minkes will have more food to eat.

Hopefully the sanctuary will also put a stop to whaling. That said, Japanese fishermen have previously hunted whales in protected areas, including the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, another protected area off Antarctica that was declared off-limits by the International Whaling Commission.

Other Antarctic animals that would be protected by the new sanctuary include Adelie penguins, orcas, Weddell seals and Antarctic petrels.

The move was applauded by conservation groups, many of whom have spent years campaigning on behalf of the animals who live in the Ross Sea.

"This is a moment of optimism for the incredible wildlife of Antarctica and is a shining beacon of hope for ocean conservation everywhere," John Tanzer, leader of oceans practice, WWF International, said in a media release. "We will take that hope and move to protect more of the ocean off Antarctica and around the world because this has never been more urgent."